Rekvijem

Are we witnessing the final act of a tragedy that has been repeated in Bosnia for centuries? Ever since Eugene of Savoy invaded Bosnia, the people have cherished the hope that change is possible. The first part of the novel, entitled “Requiem,” tells of this campaign. When the Duke of Savoy easily conquered the Bosnian regions, it seemed to the Catholics that salvation had come, but everything ended with the burning of Sarajevo and the exodus of Croats. Josip Mlakić, through the writings of the Franciscans, brings to life that time and the despair that a community and a people experienced.

The second part, “South of Heaven,” is set during the World Cup in Russia, the Croatian football team is racing towards the final, and the last inhabitants of an almost abandoned Croatian village are slowly leaving, some dying, while others are finding happiness in the West. At its center is Ivo, a man who lost his son in the war and is searching for his remains; he watches over the entire village, which is visited only once a year by its former inhabitants.

Requiem mirrors the past and the present, because they cannot do without each other. Josip Mlakić wrote a painful diptych about the times of emigration, about the age when even the most persistent cannot survive. Requiem is a great and magnificent novel about Bosnia, about a country that is disappearing, but above all a novel about man's attempts to master and overcome himself and his limitations.